Soviet Log 40
Vaginas to the Wall! We picked things up in the morning with grand plans to free Giacomo and our equipment from the Patriarch's Prison. After a bit more debate about our plan we ultimately circled back around to the 'drop from above and cut through the roof' mode of entry. Noticeably absent from the debate - and the entire session's events - were Eva and Lieselotte who were off having a heated 'lovers spat' about something. As per Roq's earlier suggestion, we needed a truck for the prisoners so, with Street Smarts and a bit of luck we smoothly scooped one on the way to the Prison. Once we arrived, we parked far enough away to avoid attention. Baron Brightmeer and Lilyana stayed with the truck ready to move in and save the prisoners. Mei Lin cast a Location so we could quickly return via Portal if needed. As we had seen yesterday, the patrols were significantly beefed up so we figured out where to cast a portal that would draw the least attention. With the portal in place, we jumped through and attacked the roof! It took a few noisy attacks which drew the attention of the patrols (including a sneaky group of rogue types we hadn't noticed on the lake side of the prison) but ultimately the roof succumbed to AOE Tenderizing daggers and we were in! Inside, a single guard held the only door leading deeper so Roq and Mei Lin charged him while Katya dropped to the floor. It was at this time that we were all hit with some kind of Arch-Nullification wave that nullified a bunch of spells simultaneously (6 levels of Cloak of Obfuscation, Iron Fortification, Disguise, Airwalk, Heat Mask, Aracnimotion). We didn't know exactly where it had come from but we had a clue when we heard a creepy little girl voice joyfully exclaim that we had fallen for the trap. Feeling a great sense of urgency, we needed to get past the guard who proved to be remarkably defend-y (a trend for the battle. Mei Lin took him out via Narcolepsy so we could spill into the inner hallway. Once there we immediately noticed a dozen or so guards inside thepPrison and milling outside by the door. We also saw Vera (squadmate from chapter 1) and dear little miss Beria (was her first name Vanessa? This logger cannot recall exactly), the source of the nasty arch-nullification. We also quickly noticed that miss Beria also had a super-duper brilliantly lit weapon Node that caused a lasting brightness 4 effect to all that looked at her. Following our plan, Roq went for the door to seal it shut before too many other guards could get in. Mei Lin engaged the guards near the door we had entered. Katya went after the dear little arch-mage. Roq managed to get the door closed but they quickly blasted through it. Rather than face a withering hail of billy clubs and assault rifles she withdrew to the top of the stairs with calls for the rest of the party to join her. Meanwhile, Mei Lin tried to attack the guards but their superior defend was proving too good against her nasty touch attacks. She joined the attack against Miss Beria instead where Katya was focused. Despite serious misgivings about attacking a young girl, Katya engaged Miss Baria with her Kalistador Shock dagger attacks. The first hit critically smashed into the girl's construct for big DR with Shock 15 and Sonic 2 riders. Katya's triumph quickly turned to concern, though, when the damage was reflected back at her. The DR was swallowed by her RF but the riders were a different story. With a big thanks to Mei LIn's recently re-cast Iron Fortitude and some lucky saves, Katya managed to emerge only *slightly* shocked. With a bitter mixture of distaste over hurting a child and the stinging memory of damage reflection, Katya turned her attention to brightness weapon. Another critical hit (good thing since the strike was at a cumulative -10) utterly destroyed it in a single hit leaving little miss Beria stunned (figuratively). Follow-ups from Mei Lin casting nasty AP Cracks (unlike Katya, she had no foolish and time-wasting compunctions about harming evil foes) and Katya's ongoing flurry blasted the remaining shreds of her Construct leaving her defenseless. To her credit, she knew when to run and barely managed to Translocate away before Katya's final flurry attack could land. Beria seems to be an Arch-Practitioner RF build and flashed at least three arch-spells this combat (more below). We briefly wondered where she had gone but quickly located her near Vera who she was huddling behind for safety. Quick to react, Mei Lin cut loose with devastating spell attacks that cut Vera's armor RF to ribbons. She seems to be a techie RF build (in the heat of battle, Mei Lin thought she was also a magic RF build, but this seems to be mistaken as we previously knew her to be a techie and we didn't see her cast any spells). However, before any of us could do more, though, she and Vera took action. First, little miss Beria invoked a ley line which Mei Linn could sense visibly cutting across the Prison. Then Vera took miss Beria's hand and they stepped into the Ley Line and blinked away. This logger is not sure whether this turn of events was good or bad. While it was a relief to have the powerful little archmage removed from the battle. Likely, the escape timer has started, though, as reinforcements will probably be alerted once they get where they are going. With the two tough foes gone, we were left with a dozen guards in the hallway. A few pursued Roq into the stairway but her defend was sufficient to avoid damage. Out in the hallway, the remaining guards opened up on Mei Lin and Katya despite the danger to their comrades who were engaged in CQ battle. Everybody defended. Mei Lin called for Katya to move so she could cast a Wrecking Ball down the hallway but Katya's initiative was too slow so she said to just cast it anyway and she would defend. Mei Linn improvised by Narcolespy-ing the guard in the way and then stepping past Katya to blast the Wrecking Ball of destruction down the hallway and out the door. It was a good thing that Mei Lin didn't heed Katya's call to include her in the AOE because she critically succeeded and hit all eight or so guards in the hall but for a single lucky one! They were all knocked prone and waited for initiative penalties to catch-up. While we were still celebrating such a devastating hit, the entire hallway filled up with AOE as a massive explosion rocked the building interior. A vehicle had pulled up outside and had lobbed some kind of mounted weapon explosive 6-projectile volley into our midst! Mei Lin scoffed as only a Temporal Mage can but Cyta and Katya barely managed to jump to safety. The guards caught in the blast (sleeping or not) were immolated in a cloud of 84 DR. The man in the car cackled gleefully and looked to be loading another volley. That's where we called it for the night. Rewards 1 Combat Katya 4 Combat 1 Benny Mei 1 Benny Eva 1 Benny Category:Soviet